Told you so, Paul…UConn

Note our comments in Steveo’s Salvos back in Week 1.  Oklahoma’s defense showed already they are not all cracked up to be what soothsayers like Mr. Finebaum would like us to hear.  Tulane not only pushed back to come up short,40-35, but they did it after the game was moved to Norman because of Hurricane Ida… Regarding UConn belonging in the FCS, they were one of a few FBS programs (Washington, Duke and Tulsa among others) that took a hit from the FCS.  Holy Cross’s win, 38-28, over the Huskies initiated the eventual, immediate resignation of HC Paul Edsall. He holds a 6-28 record since he started his second stint at Storrs …

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Paul, there’s more

Regarding the aforementioned Mr. Finebaum, why is he “worried” about LSU? First of all, we know he’s an Alabama fan.  However, what does it mean to him or to the rest of the football world besides LSU fans what happens to LSU?  I thought reporters, at least on a national stage, should not indicate any bias.  A lot of people would like to see more balance in the competition among all the schools to challenge for the national championship. If he’s worried about only one SEC team, or even two only, making the playoffs, why should he worry about LSU?  Is he worried that a PAC-12 team like UCLA now has a shot?  Heaven forbid!… I think we’ll be directing more Steveo’s Salvo’s toward this college football “expert” as the season continues.  

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Not what we are hoping for, but…

We’ve looked forward to this week’s matchup between Navy and Air Force.  This will be the sixth time we’ve seen these two rivals clash for the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy.  We were wrong in our prediction for an upset by Texas State over Baylor last week, but this week, we’re pretty sure about this week’s outcome.  Despite the rivalry, the similarities in the offense, and the emotions that will be in the air on the 20^th anniversary of 9/11, Air Force is primed for a big win here at the Naval Academy.  Navy’s offense is just lacking the skill at QB needed to run the triple option effectively.  To be successful, they not only need to put up a lot of points on the board, but they need to keep the other offense off the playing field. 

Navy lost big to a very good Marshall team last weekend, 49-7.  Air Force clipped FCS Lafayette last week, 35-14.  Surely, they looked ahead to this game in that match-up.  The Falcons bring back depth at every position after the starting team of the last two years opted out and came back this season for an additional year.  They know their triple option and will be prepared under HC Troy Calhoun.  Somehow Army (winner over Georgia State last week) and Air Force recruited the talent these past few years to keep the effectiveness of the triple option intact.  We expect the Falcons, disappointingly, to dominate the Mids.  The USNA will have to play their best game of the year to win this one, but we don’t think emotions alone will be enough. … We’re invited as proud Navy Blue and Gold supporters to attend the CBS Sports College football show in the Captain’s BBQ area before the game. Host Bucky Jones will be there with analysts Rick Neuheisel and Brian Jones.  Maybe I should bring a Goat head and a Falcon head to predict the winner before the 3:30 EST kickoff…Go Navy!

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Review of last week’s games we had our eyes on

Surprisingly great defense by now No. 10 PSU in 16-10 win over now No. 17 Wisconsin. But why couldn’t the refs find their hankies on definitive, illegal grounding penalties against the Badgers?… Shocked by then No. 18 Iowa’s overwhelming 34-6 win over No. 17 Indiana.  Maybe the Hoosiers visit to the Western Kentucky game we’ll attend September 25 will be more interesting than we anticipated…UCF trailed Boise by 21-0 in the second period, but Dillon Gabriel of UCF tossed four TDs to Hank Bachman’s two for the UCF win, 36-31.  Dyllon Lester’s INT for the Golden Knights halted a Boise State drive on the UCF seven with 2:07 left. Our kind of a game!…Ohio State topped Minnesota, 45-31, but not without a controversial no-call confirmed by the Big Ten. So much for replays…VA Tech defeated UNC at home, 17-10, to knock the Heels from their No. 10 spot in the polls to No. 24. Tech climbed to 19 and held Heisman candidate Sam Howell to 17 of 32 for 208 yards, TD, and three INTs. So much for his chances…

With a 10-7 win by No. 5 Georgia over No.3 Clemson, the Dawgs nudged the Tigers down to No. 6 in this week’s poll, for now.  The only TD came on a pick-six by UGA. At least for now, the CFP looks a little different…  Not sure who can knock Alabama from the top spot, but for now, the others here seem a little more open to fall than many suspect. Oklahoma and Ohio State struggled some, but everyone has at least 10 games left. Even if you want to count this week’s Alabama-Mercer contest as a game worth counting, among some other 28 FBS-FCS matchups , what a waste of a second week of games for the most part. Look who else is playing a level down this week: Clemson, Oklahoma, LSU, West Virginia, Kansas State, Florida State, Cincinnati, Michigan State, Marshall, Indiana, Northwestern, Fresno, and Auburn.  Instead of playing down, these programs should be playing each other this week.

At least we bulk up our schedule

Our plans to attend Northwestern at Wisconsin on November 13 fell through as reported last week, but “tell ya what we’re gonna do”.  Our Wake Forest buddy, “Bug” Harton, said he had some classmates booked for the Demon Deacons’ Homecoming against Duke on October 30.  Seeing the Dukes lose in one of those other FCS upsets to Charlotte last week, we accepted Bug’s invite to change to meet him on November 13 for the NC State game. At least these two teams dominated some similar competition in Week One. The Wolfpack drubbed South Florida, 45-0, and Wake did in Old Dominion, 41-10… On October 30, now being only a five-and-a-half-hour drive to Clemson, we’re looking to head there for the first time when Florida State visits.  After seeing McKenzie Milton come in to get the ‘Noles coming back against Notre Dame Saturday night, this could be a great opportunity to introduce ourselves to the other Death Valley… See our updated 2021 Tentative Schedule. We make it tentative for reason like these.

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Games we look forward to, but not attending this week

“Kansas at Coastal Carolina?”, you ask.   First of all, congratulations to the Jayhawks under first-year HC Lance Leopold not being one FBS team to succumb in an opener against an FCS team.  They defeated South Dakota, 17-14.  We added No. 16 Coastal to our schedule last week for a date on October 7 at Arkansas State.  Interested to see how KU stands up to a very legitimate program on the rise on the road after Leopold’s short-term intervention joining this program…Western Kentucky at Army. We have WKU in our plans this year at home against Indiana and Middle Tennessee. Army as usual, looms as our last regular season game versus Navy.  WKU defeated FCS UT Martin to open while the Cadets overwhelmed Georgia State, 43-10, with 258 rushing yards and dominant clock control. If WKU can compete with Army, we’ll have a sense for what they can do against Indiana.  We’re also considering another Army game if they make it to this season’s Independence Bowl against a PAC-12 team in Shreveport, LA…

No. 3 Ohio State plays No. 13 Oregon (should be more games like this on week 2) at home.  Just getting by with a break against Minnesota should be an incentive for the Buckeyes, but games like this are what the PAC-12 teams like the Ducks are looking for to break into the CFP. Too bad their DE Kayvon Thibodeaux is out…Ball State won the MAC last season, so they should press No. 11 Penn State after a battle last week against Wisconsin.  Their game the following week we’ll be attending when No. 25 Auburn comes to State College. Trap game early? The Nittany Lions will test the Cardinals to get their offense on track more quickly than they did against the Badgers…No. 9 Iowa State struggled with tough FCS Northern Iowa last week unexpectedly to a close 16-10 victory.  Now comes another instate rival in No. 10 Iowa who blasted No. 17 Indiana unexpectedly, 31-6, last week. Expectedly, this should be a great game among the corn stalks!…

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Goodbye to “The Bam”

Steveo’s Salvos sends condolences to his family and memories of a game played back in 1970 that changed college football forever, especially in the South. Sam “The Bam” Cunningham, USC and later New England Patriot fullback known as a hard, tough fearless runner bulling through defenders near the goal line, passed away at the age of 71. We remember watching that game on TV as kids when USC defeated Alabama’s all-white team in 1970, 42-21.  It opened Alabama ‘s HC Paul “Bear” Bryant eyes to start recruiting Black Athletes for The Crimson Tide, and changed the future of college football from then on thanks to Sam’s performance.  Cunningham earned All-American honors in 1972. He captained the Trojans to the national championship in 1972. Against Ohio State in the 1973 Rose Bowl, when he ran for four touchdowns, earning MVP honors, in a 42-17 win.  He’s in both the College football Hall of Fame and is the leading rusher in New England Patriot history. We were never USC fans, but always admired him for his toughness when we watched him play.  He was fun to watch.

Tennessee teams

Got to see Austin Peay defeat UT Chattanooga in a pretty good first game last Thursday, 29-20.  We’ll definitely look for other UTC games to go to in that venue…The Vols soundly defeated hapless Bowling Green as expected, 38-6, while totaling 471 yards on offense in HC Josh Heupel’s UT debut before 82,314 at Neyland Stadium. Next up come the Pitt Panthers (1-0) to Neyland.  They conquered an even weaker team in UMass last week, 51-7. The outcome of this game will be more indicative of where the Volunteer’s season is heading…As for Vanderbilt, new HC Clark Lea has an even deeper hole to dig out of after a 23-3 loss at home to FCS East Tennessee State. Maybe it will get easier when the Commodore’s set sail to Colorado State this weekend. The Rams also lost to an FCS foe, South Dakota State.  Later this season, the ‘Dores will host UConn, loser to FCS Holy Cross…Did we mention that neither Tennessee nor Vanderbilt play on our schedule this year? We have Memphis and Tennessee State at upcoming home games, but at venues where we attended bowl games respectively (at Liberty and Music City at Nissan Stadium).

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Here we go again – realignment

To make up for its losses of Texas and Oklahoma, The Big Twelve and four other schools look for new agreements going forward. By the end of this week, BYU, Cincinnati, Central Florida, and Houston could be joining up with the remains. The question is when? The American Athletic loses three reducing its membership to eight teams. It may need another member or two. We figure Army. More to be bandied about in coming days.

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